Introduction: identification of candidate diseases

CANDIDATE DISEASES FOR ELIMINATION OR ERADICATION Introduction: identification of candidate diseases The conference participants' consideration of candidate discases and conditions for elimnination or eradication included overviews tor each of (he four basic disease categories- noninfectious conditions, and bacterial] parasitic, and viral diseases. The con- ditions and diseases hLghliglhted in the overviews were identified dunng the spring of 1997 through a survey of persons invited to the conterence. The survey form was sent to 167 invited partici- pants and 109 responded. The form enumerated conditions or diseases in each of the four basic cat- egories and provided spaces for listing additional conditions. Each recipient was asked to rank, for each group, up to four conditions to be considered during the conferencc. Altlhough the set of condi- tions reflected a strong level of agreement, it was not initended to constrain workgroup decisions from de- leting somc or adding others. FollowNing the overview. the workgroups re- ceived a charge and a framework for addressing in- porLant issues and candidate conditions. There were two primary goals for each of the four condition-specific workgroups (a filth workgroup addressed the topic of sustainable health devel- opment): first, to agree on the set of specific can- didate conditions to be addressed by the group; and second, for each of the agreed-upon candidate conditions. by using the fact shcets and addi- tional infonnation, to deliberate and specify basic considerations, including essential facilitating factors (c.g. research and technologies, political! organizational will, and partnerships), key strategies Lo accomplish the objective(s), research needs, and relevant conclusions and recommendations regarding Lhe elimination/eradication of the con- dition. Each workgroup was led by two co-chairs, and each group had a pnncipal rapporteuLr. Each full workgroup was required to achieve a high level of agreement on the core elements and recomTmendations. Bulletin of the World Health Organization, 1998, 76 (2). 5454